'Orange is the New Black' author speaks at Lehigh Valley women's conference

Piper Kerman shares her story and outlook on women communities with an audience of over 500 women at the Lehigh Valley Women’s Summit at Cedar Crest College.

Piper Kerman shares her story and outlook on women communities with an audience of over 500 women at the Lehigh Valley Women’s Summit at Cedar Crest College.

Kayla DwyerOf The Morning Call

“Orange is the New Black” author Piper Kerman speaks at Cedar Crest

Piper Kerman, author of the book that was adapted into the Netflix series "Orange is the New Black," shared her story and outlook on women communities with an audience of more than 500 women at the Lehigh Valley Women's Summit at Cedar Crest College on Tuesday.

The woman whose series was the most-watched original Netflix show in 2013 served as one of the event's keynote speakers. In the morning, Linda Cliatt-Wayman, principal of Strawberry Mansion High School in Philadelphia, and Lynn Stratford, senior vice president of the U.S. fund for UNICEF, also gave keynote addresses.

The summit brought together what Kerman described as an "inspiring cavalcade of women" in a series of speeches, workshops and break-out sessions geared toward empowering women to be leaders in their fields. The daylong event was created in partnership by Cedar Crest, the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce's Women's Business Council and the Women's Leadership Council of the United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley.

The setting of a women's college like Cedar Crest felt appropriate to Kerman, who attended Smith College, also all-female. "Of course, the first women's institution in which I was held," she quipped.

Kerman stressed the importance of such a female community in her life, which is one of the selling points that Brenna Mateljan, a senior admissions counselor at Cedar Crest, said she drives home with prospective students.

"Orange is the New Black" author Piper Kerman shared her story and outlook on female communities with an audience of more than 500 women at the Lehigh Valley Women’s Summit at Cedar Crest College on Tuesday, June 9, 2015.

(TATIANA RIVERA / THE MORNING CALL)

"To see [Kerman] go to a women's college and a women's institution and have all those connections, it's empowering to our current students," Mateljan said.

Kerman said going from a women's community at college to one in prison had striking similarities in terms of camaraderie and relying on one another, though it was the opposite of what she had anticipated.

Eleven years after smuggling drug money from Chicago to Brussels, Belgium, Kerman began her 13-month stay at a minimum security prison in Danbury, Conn. What she found there was an unexpected phenomenon: a "welcome wagon," women offering her toothpaste and shower shoes, advice and tidbits on survival during those first few days.

"It was a sign of humanity in a place designed to take your humanity away," Kerman said.

She said the other women, some of whom she is still friends with, helped her to survive in prison. The goal of her book, and the series, was to impress upon people a different idea of who is in prison, she said.

"She's telling her story, but it's so much about everyone else," Capital Blue Cross representative Colleen Gavin said. Capital Blue Cross has been one of the sponsors of the summit since its beginning more than 15 years ago.

Cedar Crest has held the summit on its campus for the past four years, hosting figures such as Marlo Thomas, Gloria Steinem and Kathy Najimy.

Cedar Crest President Carmen Ambar said Kerman was a standout.

"We've never had someone who had such a public setback," who then was able to come back from it, she said.

The other key in bringing Kerman to the summit was to appeal to a wider span of generations, with her drawing a younger audience, Amber said.

Kerman, the other 35 speakers and past speakers all connect to a central theme of the summit, which has always been to inspire and empower women, said Danielle Joseph, executive vice president for the business and diversity councils at the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce.